Final Fantasy XII WIP (Original version)(PS2, 2006)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-8 Challenge-7 Story-6
Level Design-6.5 Frustration- Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5?
+
Bounty hunts (PSIV), the sparse and (relatively) subtle panorama of XII's narrative is preferable to the in-your-face melodramatic soapboxing that marred other games, battles focus more on strategizing before-hand as individual actions are automated, battle system borrows from PSIV's Macro system, Vaan is less annoying than Tidus,
+/-
You can switch Vaan out of the party (a few hours into the game) so you only have to deal with him in cutscenes, in many ways Vaan and Penelo play the same role in the story as C-3PO and R2-D2 serve in Star Wars: they ground a ridiculous epic by pulling the elements of narrative down to the point of view of the common man; they're there to serve as a contrast to the stoic heroes,
-
The license board was problematic in that it nearly eliminated functional distinctions between characters (Although the characters start out with somewhat discrete abilities, after a while, everybody starts to turn into slight variations on the same character build)
From what I understand, the re-release "Zodiac Job System" version of the game fixed this but it was never released outside Japan
Vaan and Penelo take up a lot of screen time while not doing much of anything of importance
Plot feels rushed and overly cliché towards the end (where suddenly the Bahamut comes into the picture to force a finale)
MP runs out quickly which means you have to run around in circles every so often waiting for MP to refill (Ethers are prohibitively expensive, Osmose helps but you get it very late in the game)
The boss battles were more exciting but the majority of battles boiled down to the same thing - Heal when you lost enough health and wait for the attack the boss does that hits you with multiple status effects and then cast Esuna (rinse and repeat)
No manual airship travel
Level Design-6.5 Frustration- Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5?
+
Bounty hunts (PSIV), the sparse and (relatively) subtle panorama of XII's narrative is preferable to the in-your-face melodramatic soapboxing that marred other games, battles focus more on strategizing before-hand as individual actions are automated, battle system borrows from PSIV's Macro system, Vaan is less annoying than Tidus,
+/-
You can switch Vaan out of the party (a few hours into the game) so you only have to deal with him in cutscenes, in many ways Vaan and Penelo play the same role in the story as C-3PO and R2-D2 serve in Star Wars: they ground a ridiculous epic by pulling the elements of narrative down to the point of view of the common man; they're there to serve as a contrast to the stoic heroes,
-
The license board was problematic in that it nearly eliminated functional distinctions between characters (Although the characters start out with somewhat discrete abilities, after a while, everybody starts to turn into slight variations on the same character build)
From what I understand, the re-release "Zodiac Job System" version of the game fixed this but it was never released outside Japan
Vaan and Penelo take up a lot of screen time while not doing much of anything of importance
Plot feels rushed and overly cliché towards the end (where suddenly the Bahamut comes into the picture to force a finale)
MP runs out quickly which means you have to run around in circles every so often waiting for MP to refill (Ethers are prohibitively expensive, Osmose helps but you get it very late in the game)
The boss battles were more exciting but the majority of battles boiled down to the same thing - Heal when you lost enough health and wait for the attack the boss does that hits you with multiple status effects and then cast Esuna (rinse and repeat)
No manual airship travel